A Growing Threat at Guantanamo? Detainees Fatten Up

Most of the prisoners arrived at the military prison in
southeast Cuba slightly underweight but have since gained an
average of 20 pounds (9 kilograms), and most are now "normal to
mildly overweight or mildly obese," Navy Cmdr. Robert Durand,
spokesman for the detention facilities, said Monday.

One detainee's weight has almost doubled to 410 pounds (186
kilograms), Durand said.

U.S. officials assess whether detainees are overweight by
calculating their body-mass index, a measurement of weight in
relation to height.

Human rights groups attribute the weight gain to lack of
mobility in the detainees' small cells. They also cited accounts of
released detainees who said they were at times allowed to exercise
fewer than three times a week.

The detainees' meals total a whopping 4,200 calories per day.
U.S. government dietary guidelines for weight maintenance recommend
2,000 to 3,000 calories per day.

Inmates at U.S. federal prisons receive about 2,900 calories a
day, said Michael Truman, a spokesman for the U.S. Bureau of
Prisons, who added that weight gain is studied only where it poses
a health risk, though it does not appear widespread.

"Most of them keep themselves in pretty good shape," he said.

Durand said detainees are served a wide variety of food and
expected to choose what appeals to them.

"The detainees are advised that they are offered more food than
necessary to provide choice and variety, and that consuming all the
food they are offered will result in weight gain," he said.

About 460 detainees are currently at Guantanamo, including some
held for more than four years on suspicion of links to al-Qaida and
the Taliban.

The meals include meats prepared according to Islamic
guidelines, fresh bread and yogurt. With nearly all detainees
fasting in the daytime during Ramadan, authorities have arranged
for two separate meals -
a post-sunset meal and a midnight meal -
to be delivered after dark. Traditional desserts and honey are
served during the Ramadan observances.

Durand said all prisoners, including those held at
maximum-security Camp 5, are allowed at least two hours of daily
recreation - the minimum called for by the International Committee
of the Red Cross. However, reporters who visited Camp 5 last month
were told that the exercise time had been reduced to one hour after
the suicides of three detainees in June.

During the September visit, a "high-value" detainee could be
seen walking in circles around a 10-by-18-foot fenced-in
"recreation yard."

The exercise time has since been increased to 90 minutes, the
commander of the camp guards said, and there were plans to restore
the two-hour exercise periods.

The most compliant detainees receive up to 12 hours of exercise
time and have access to treadmills, stationary bikes and other
exercise equipment, Durand said.

The conflicting accounts of prisoners' exercise time highlight a
need for neutral monitors to examine conditions at the prison and
report their findings, said Curt Goering, of Amnesty International
USA.

"The army says one thing, camp commanders say one thing, and
then there's this other information available," he said. "It's
really important that someone independent makes that assessment."

A delegation from the International Committee of the Red Cross
arrived at the prison last week for interviews with detainees. The
humanitarian organization, which does not publicly release some
findings as a condition of its access to prisoners, was hoping to
get a first glimpse of 14 top alleged al-Qaida figures and other
terror suspects previously locked up in CIA secret prisons.